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Gratitude Matters: Gratitude

March 31, 2020

By:

Pat Yankus, St. Paul's, Paterson

Right now it can be hard to be grateful for anything. We are stuck in our houses; have to stay 6’ away from everyone; work from home; work while trying to monitor school-aged children doing their work; wondering what is really happening and will we get sick or will someone we know get sick? Will they recover? So many things on our minds, things that can beat us down.

We can really go there.

But.

We also can not.

We can choose to look at this time as an opportunity for introspection, prayerful thought and thinking about what we are grateful for. Have you ever been in a situation where you are totally overwhelmed and can’t figure out what to do? Have you turned it over to God? What happened? Did things change?

What if we took five minutes a day to reflect on this. How does it change your thinking, release some anxiety, make you look at the world situation differently? Ask yourself: Where is God in all of this? We read that God is with us all of the time. This is true. God is.

Even now, turn your anxiety over to God. Open your heart and mind. Feel God’s presence. God will never let us down. For that, I am eternally grateful.

If you'd like to participate in this weekly series please send your reflection (250 word maximum) to Cynthia McChesney, cmcchesney@dioceseofnewark.org. In addition to these mini-essays, we hope you'll also participate on social media for more! We'll be posting with the hashtag #GratitudeMatters.

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